What makes Dotty atypical is her background and her personality…in addition to some other quirks and amazing characteristics.

Dotty is a remarkable writer. She has room to grow, of course, but who doesn’t? She writes from her soul. The words on the page are beyond her 15/16 years. She writes about things that her peers and colleagues have only seen on television (‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Weeds’, ‘Law & Order: SVU’, and the like). She writes about her life, her past, her parents’ struggles, and her own. The level of self-awareness she achieves through her exceptional work is advanced past the point I think I could ever be.

She is able to articulate things in such a artful way that she says it without flat-out saying it. She wrote about her emotional struggles, but never once said she was battling depression. The only reason I know is because she’s told me.She wrote about her eating disorder, but wrote from the perspective of her friend to convey the fact that she just wanted to be listened to, not lectured. I would have never known if she didn’t preface my reading it with her explanations.She wrote about growing up with her dad whose residence was described as if right out of a film. ‘Cocaine’ in her words was ‘snow’, ‘entangled in the carpet of the hallway.’ She wrote about her insecurities, the reason for wanting to control her weight, of all things, in a life where just about everything else is out of her control. It’s not because she’s fat, it’s because she’s scared. She, like most other teenage girls, is fearful of her own self-loathing. Something she made clear through personification of the fear, itself.

She smiles–everyday.She laughs and chats with her peers and friends around her while in class.She is very open to Frenchie and me when she wants us to read something. Usually that something is an extra piece of writing in which she expresses her deepest emotions and worries.She is incredibly intelligent, incredible with words, and outrageously insightful.

Everything Dotty does is purposeful. It’s all very logically though-out, even the illogical.She always has a reason.

Dotty is beyond her years.She knows what she’s doing, and she sees ways out no matter how deep she gets.

Why am I writing about Dotty?

Because she’s amazing. And in an odd way, I look up her. I aspire to be as strong as she is–not just for a 15 year old, but as a person–as a young woman in today’s world. Dotty’s going places. Despite her upbringing and the trouble her early life has shown her.Dotty’s gonna make something of herself.I can see it in her eyes. I see her determination to succeed and be amazing when she smiles.She’s excitable and it gives me hope for her, for myself, and for the future of the country.There are so many amazing young men and women out there like Dotty.It just takes one compliment to spark that light behind their eyes.

So after being in the classroom for about 8 weeks (holy cow, it’s been 8 weeks!!) I’ve finally run into my first absolutely true struggle with students.

A class of seniors, second track students who are by no means incapable or unintelligent–in fact they are some of the most intelligent young people I’ve met so far! Not that that is a long time, but it’s long enough! 🙂 Actually! It’s my counterpart seniors to the fourth period class I talked about in my previous post! And, in fact, the day this all began was actually the same day I described in my last post!

This day was the starting point of what I foresee to be the rest of a very rough semester for both the students and me.

Frenchie was out of the room at the curriculum planning meeting we had both been in all morning, and an email went out to teachers with prep during 6th period to find coverage for her. In this email there was news:

“The student teacher will run the class. You just need to be there as a presence.”

…oh…okay…that wasn’t MY plan, but why not? At least that way both senior classes would be in the same place for the next class period. Sure.

So off I went, without Frenchie to be the commanding presence in the room. My first real time on my own with the students.

Piece of cake. These students know me, they recognize that I’m one of the teachers in the room, so this should be no problem; it’ll be just like any other day.

Wow. I could not have misjudged them much more than I did…

With Frenchie out of the room, the students decided to take advantage…as if I was a substitute teacher and unfamiliar to them! I had to fight against students talking, I had to swallow my frustrations and the urge to scream. Trying to maintain the great relationships I had already begun building with many of the students in the classroom, I tried to stay calm and collected, not putting anyone on the spot or making anything feel forced. I let them read in small groups, for heaven’s sake! The same activity that had gone amazingly with fourth period was deteriorating and chaos for sixth period.

I ended up having to yell more than I really like to, making eye contact with those students who I hold to higher expectations and pointedly asking them, “Are ya kidding right now?”

Somehow I managed to get through the whole lesson, like walking across a scalding hot and rocky beach barefoot, but we got through it.

The next day, Frenchie ran into some of the students from that class who, unprompted, expressed their astonishment and amazement at their classmates’ rudeness and disrespect. That made me feel okay, because at least I knew that it wasn’t just me that felt floored by their behavior.

What did I learn from this situation? Well, I’m still learning from it. A week later. I’m learning that I cannot take the misbehavior of students personally. I learned that they don’t take me seriously because they recognize that I’m, really, not much older than they are. In fact, one student turned to me and made a point to say, “my siblings are older than you.” …..oh…okay…I learned that I need to start being stricter…meaner…less lenient with them.

So far, one of the most important lessons I’m learning as a student teacher: where my line is drawn.

In the high school English classroom–and even middle school! Why not??–I think the most important tool to use is inquiry.

Asking questions helps to broaden the scope through which our students look at a concept, a word, a work. These questions help students bridge gaps between text and reality; cultivates discussion and the bouncing around of ideas across the room, from one student to another.

Today, I was observed for the first official time, and could not have asked for a better lesson for my supervisor to evaluate me on. My 4th period seniors, the ones “infected” with

SENIORITIS

were asked today to read the second chapter of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. They of course read the first chapter yesterday, so we reviewed, and they nailed it.

I split the class into three groups, each group reading a section of the chapter that was only 2-3 pages long.
(They’re seniors, so I know they won’t read a whole chapter, even if I bribed them to.)
Within each of these sections, the students were asked to individually react to the text with questions, comments, immediate responses, etc., and the questions could either be personal/individual or could be a collective group question.

After so many minutes, they discussed briefly each section within their groups and volunteered at least one person to come up to the front of the room and explain so we all had knowledge of each portion of the entire chapter.

They decided to tag-team while at the front of the room. It was kind of awesome.

Then came the discussion and questions.

We began a discussion about

The discussion stirred up a lot of questions and realizations for the students, ultimately bringing up topics of gender norms, individuality and independence, racism, class-ism, pre-schooling and parenting…they did a beautiful job exploring a very important central theme to the text.

Of course, as my supervisor and I had discussed afterward, I should have been less inquiry-based in my leading of the discussion, and could have had even richer discussion around socialization and what it means–what it does for society, but hind-sight is 20/20, as they say!

Basically, it is discussions and moments like this that really support my philosophy that an English classroom runs on discovery and exploration, both of which cannot survive without inquiry and discussion.

It was the end of the first markingperiod at “Rydell High” and “Frenchie” was scrambling to make the deadline for her students’ grades.

She needed extra time.

It was a Friday–my day to be in the classroom.

So I took my chance to teach my first real lesson.

Something that I learned about the 10th graders from the curriculum planning meeting I sat in was that the 10th graders (and even some of the other grades; French and I were having the seniors do the same assignments) were going to be doing self-reflecting work out of a book called 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.

This book has a lot of really great writing prompts and issues that are brought up that we pose as prompts to the students.

So quickly, Frenchie and I threw together an idea for the students to work with this book–a book that they all were expected to have.

There is a chapter in the book that talks about “Centers“. These “centers” are basically categories of priorities: “school centered”, “friend centered”, “parents centered”, “work centered”, etc.

Every day, we give the students a writing warm-up, and since this specific day I was in-charge of…well…everything. So I decided to make their warm-up somewhat relevant:

What is currently your top priority?

Before I revealed the actual prompt (above), I made sure to give them a little more of a chance to have background knowledge on the topic, so I asked

What is a “priority”? What does that word mean?

I took a few suggestions from the class, all of which were related and accurate, and then posed the warm-up question. I asked for a time-keeper and asked him/her to put 5 minutes on the timer, and asked if they could let us know when there was one minute left.

I made sure to write with them (my top priority was to write my thesis on Peter Pan…).

When time was up, I asked for a few to share out what their top priority was and why. Many of them said things like “getting into a good college”, or “getting an ‘A'” in a specific class.

We then made sure that everyone had either their 7 Habits book or a packet of photo copies Frenchie and I made during 1st period Prep.

I read the first section which introduced the concept of “centers”, then turned it to the class and asked for volunteers to read aloud.

After the gist of each section was read, I stopped the reader and asked someone else to summarize briefly the driving point of the portion read (“Pause. Let’s talk real quickly about what he’s saying here…”). With the end of each section, I asked for a new volunteer to read next.

The process moved pretty quickly, and moved quite efficiently. It began a little slowly–as my aunt (a 6th grade math teacher in AZ) says, “I became a dentist with how many teeth I had to pull!” After about the second pause in reading, though, the students seemed to understand the process and became much more responsive. The amount of hands raised to offer-up answers, definitions, explanations, and examples increased tenfold by the end of the class period.

Once we finished the reading, I went up to the board and asked for the class to make a list of all the centers the author addressed in his chapter. I also told them, that they should all take out a piece of paper and pencil or pen and write the list at the top of their own page.

When the list was completed and in front of them, I said

“Okay, with the last five minutes of class you’re going to get a head-start on your homework. For homework, I want you to write 350 words–preferably typed–telling me what your life’s center is right now. You can have multiple centers, one center…For example, if I was to write about my centers I would say that I have a heavy emphasis in my school center, friend center, and work centered.”

By the time I finished explaining the homework, they had two minutes left, so they had already began to pack their bags and put their portfolios on the shelves.

This sounds like a lesson that went swimmingly, perfectly, even. But it wasn’t.

I guess in explaining one of the centers, I used the term “y’all”. I’m from Las Vegas, where we speak like that. But a few of the students, of course, caught my diction. In expecting a relevant comment, I called on–let’s call him Jimmy–Jimmy in the back:
“Ms. S., are you from here??”
“…no…”
And I asked for someone who actually had a relevant response to my question. Instead, I got more guesses as to where I was from:
“Are you from Virginia??”
“North Carolina?”
“Maryland?”
To refocus everyone I made sure that one thing was clear:
“I’m not telling you where I’m from! Now let’s focus, c’mon, guys!”

Luckily, that was the end of that.

In response to their questions, though, I plan to make it into a game. I’m going to try and connect English and writing with geography and U.S. History (since they’re taking that class, too). I’m going to give them hints each time it’s brought up like:

I’ve lived in 6 states. 5 of those states were all a part of the Union in the American Civil War. Guess one state and explain why you think that is a state in which I have lived, or why you think that is the state I am from.

In looking for opportunity to progress productivity and learning for both students and teachers alike, one must find resources? Nowadays, these resources are found mostly online for everybody. It’s pretty easy to just “Google” everything and in two seconds find something out there in the cyber universe that is exactly what you need.

But what about relevant lessons? What about planning a curriculum for an entire grade of students in a high school?

Once more, I bring you to “Rydell High” where I go at least once a week (and lately it’s been at least twice!) and assist in the classroom, run warm-ups, occasionally teach a full lesson, and participate in discussion between teachers who are brainstorming ideas for their 10th grade American Literature classes. These group brainstorms occur all throughout a teacher’s day: at lunch together, between periods, on preparation periods, and all-day curriculum planning meetings.

Each of the English teachers at Rydell who teach tenth grade were given the opportunity to call in a substitute teacher for one full day so that they could take the entire school day (and more if necessary) to iron out the giant kinks, wrinkles, and bumps in the cloth of the American Literature curriculum.

The most important thing I learned while sitting in on the first half of that day-long meeting:

Your peers are your best resource.

The amount of times I heard “that’s such a good idea! How did you do that with your 10-2’s?” or “Do you have the handouts you gave your 10-3’s? I really think my 10-honors will really benefit from that lesson, actually!” and other phrases of the similarity was countless.

The cast of characters around this table included:

“Frenchy” “Ms. Lynch” “Jan” “Marti”

&
“Rizzo” “Sandy” “Patty”

Each teacher brings something different and new to the table (literally and figuratively). One teacher was ahead of the rest of the team in their general outline of the curriculum because she thought she was behind. Meanwhile “Frenchy”, my host teacher, thought she was even further behind, when really she was just focused on other skills with her students. For example, the 10th graders are reading 12 Angry Men; at the same time, they’re getting the skills necessary to be successful on the state standardized tests and learning about being American and therefore why it’s important we read these canonized American texts. That’s a lotto cover.

However, these teachers taught me how important it is to work as a team, to share resources and ideas with each other, and just how great and supportive your colleagues can be in stressful and confusing times. Here these teachers were at “crunch time”, planning something that one would think had already been established.

Well it wasn’t.

Why?

Because:
1. There is just not enough time in one day to get everything done that a teacher would like to. There are current grades to put into the computer (and depending on the district, there could be really, really strict timelines for that, or there could be really lax ones. But these students and their parents/caregivers rely on gauging their student’s success on the grades they see in the computer). Unless a teacher has help, it’s inevitable that their grading will lag behind when there are other lessons to prep for, meetings to attend, and, oh yeah, teaching has be done.

2. Teachers’ lives do not revolve entirely around their classroom. As selfish as that sounds to some, these teachers–each one of them sitting around that table–have families, children, and lives outside of the walls of “Rydell High”. There needs to be a healthy balance between work and personal life.

3. This is the first year that Rydell High has experimented with a Writing-Based Curriculum. In a school system that, nationally, has been all about teaching for the state tests (thank you, NCLB) a progressive portfolio-based structure takes time to implement. To transition from one strict style to one that is much freer and liberal is difficult in the worst sense of the word.

Bottom line: there’s just not enough time for everything to happen at once behind the scenes.

With that said, these teachers worked as a team to really prioritize what their students will learn and when.

Since everyone was in different places with their students, highlighting what was the goal for each marking period really drove their focus. With the scattering of the team’s placements, tempers began to rise, anxieties began to surface. However, there is always one in each team, regardless of what the team is working together to achieve, who has the skills to bring everyone else off the ledge and calm the group, refocusing them on strategies to organize and prioritize. That was Marti‘s job–a Reading Specialist, Marti knows many tricks of the trade when it comes to talking people down.

Not only does Marti posses the right skills to calm a crowd with her high-pitched, sugary-sweet voice, but she is the resident standardized test expert. She offered up her knowledge of test-taking strategies to help her teammates incorporate exam preparation with the curriculum requirements around the literature students must read (Twelve Angry Men, Of Mice and Men, etc.).

To do this, the “Pink Ladies“, we’ll call them, decided to model their midterm exams in the same formatting as the state test–killing two birds with one stone.

I was able to, from this discussion, grab Marti for a really great conversation clarifying the difference between “teaching to the test” and what they were doing by modeling their own exams to the test. The difference is, as explained by Marti, that the Pink Ladies weren’t changing their midterm formats to “teach to the test” but because it relieves some of the students’ anxieties, or possible anxieties, when they sit down in front of that exam paper.

It boosts their confidence.

All in all, what I learned from this experience is:

1. It’s so, so, soimportant to work as a teamwith your fellow teachers because, in anything in life, we’re only as good as our strongest support. And the strongest supports come from having the strongest support system under you. Who would be better to support you than those who understand exactly what you’re going through??

2. That support system of teachers, coworkers, peers, and colleagues is the most important resource you can have. Why make things harder for yourself with such limited time when there is a plethora of experience through trial-and-error just down the hall from your own classroom?

Also connected to the above two points:

3. Working with your fellow “PinkLadies” is going to ultimately help you in covering the zillions of things in need of covering (state test, portfolio, canonized literature, and whatever else your individual school, district, and department requires of your students).

Moral of the story:

Don’t forget to utilize your resources–i.e. your colleagues and peers!!!–when in a crunch!

This is one reason that we need to continue to teach writing in schools. Students should be allowed to express themselves, even if no one sees it. They should be able to connect to those around them–student and teacher, alike.

So I’ve heard some interesting things about Gov. Christie in New Jersey, and I’m not here to say anything political (especially because I’m not a NJ resident), but this teacher should be commended. We should all be writing and speaking up to our representatives, senators, mayors, and governors! Why not just our district superintendents??